Mid April Inshore Report

I had a last-minute charter request; the guests had a charter cancel and wanted to get out. Their preference was offshore fishing. With east winds at 15-20mph, the conditions were suboptimal. But, the Free-Spirit is a capable vessel with a 10ft beam and a deep vee hull, it was doable. An East wind makes nearshore water leeward and calmer close in. We went about 5 miles out and it was a bit bumpy. Solid action on Atlantic Spadefish, not the best eating, but they fight hard and are often hungry. Guests have reported they eat just fine. Keeper grey snapper, and several breakoffs on large fish likely Goliath Grouper or Shark. We boated 2 Goliaths and lost maybe 6 more. Lots of action. Then we went inshore to calmer waters to find snook and snapper.

May is usually a calm sea month, but we had out share of windy conditions. The shallow grouper bite has been good with several keeper Reds and nice Gags plus Mangrove and Lane Snapper on live bottom. Artificial reefs produced gags, snapper and Spadefish.

April is often a great month with mild winds; however, we had plenty of windy/challenging conditions and also beautiful days. As a guest keep the conditions in mind when leaving a review, captains do not control the weather, meteorology must be a fake degree due to the wild inaccuracy of forecasts. This was the last month for stone crabs, and we did well despite being late in the season. The inshore bite was off and on depending on conditions, some days over 20mph winds. Offshore the bite was solid with good numbers of grouper and other reef fish. Upon request I will shark fish, often at same reef fishing location for grouper, but with different gear. Plenty of big sharks were caught and released. A first for me was a client hooking a large sea turtle, which was promptly released. The tarpon are here and will stick around through early summer. May is usually a great month, book yourself a trip on the Free-Spirit Gag season is OPEN!